REVIZIT: Crypto Currency comparison

With my banking background, I am fascinated by cryptocurrency.  I discovered this comparison between Visa and PayPal and cryptocurrencies for processing transactions per second. Before I share my visualization, I want to share my observations about this visualization.  

The Pros
1. The reader can clearly see the big message--VISA processes a lot more transactions per second than the others in this visualization. 

2. The labels are effective as providing the level of detail to show exactly how much each entity processes per second. 
​
3. The article and source is provided. 

The Cons
1. The logos are redundant. They are in the bubbles and below the bubbles.  

2. The gray lines are unnecessary.  A reasonable person would be able to understand that the 24,000 is associated with VISA.  

3. The legend includes a color variation that a reader can't actually see in the chart.  Perhaps the different colors were for illustrative purposes.  Additionally, the smallest transaction in the legend is 20, but the smallest data point is seven.  This requires me to visually judge to see if the bubble for the seven is actually smaller than the bubble in the legend for 20.  

4. The position of the bubbles in the viz make it challenging to really compare each entity.  
​
5. This may be more of personal preference, but pink with shine is an odd choice when discussing cryptocurrencies.  The shine distracts from the bubble. 

As I set out to reviz this chart, there were a few items that were top priority for me; changing the chart type to one that is more effective (in my opinion), changing the color scheme, and modifying the label use.  

I found this image online and thought it had a great color scheme with the dark background and the light blue/teal that makes the individual images pop, which is what I wanted to carry over to the visualization.  

The following visualizations provide a focus on the data.  The first provides a focus on the comparison whereas the second provides a total to really show how few cryptocurrency transactions are processed per second compared to VISA. Additionally, the color scheme of the original visualization felt very bubble gummy to me and the shine on the bubbles is not an effective way to visualize data as it interferes with the readers' ability to comprehend the message the data is telling.  

The above is an example of data visualization, whereas the following leans more toward visual analytics because of the conclusion on top of the pie chart.  There are a lot of mixed feelings about pie charts.   Some people despise them, some people love them.  For me, I'm a believer of the best chart type for the data.  In the example below, I believe a pie chart is an appropriate chart to show the relationship between the volume of cryptocurrencies and traditional payments. Additionally, by reading the title of the pie chart, one can understand that the bigger volume is related to traditional (and primarily VISA).  

Project revizit complete! The visualization was really for me (though I did contribute to the monthly Storytelling with Data Challenge), and I am pleased with the first and second iterations.  

Looking for someone to help you revizit your visualizations?  Analytics to Inform can help. Contact us to learn more how we can be of service. 

Contact Analytics to Inform